Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Who Speaks For The Low Functioning?

The median
for IQ purposes is 100. That means that half of us fall below IQ 100, by
definition. Those unlucky people should not be blamed or penalized for their
natural condition, delivered by fate at birth. They should not be mocked. My
purpose herein is to suggest that they have the same right as anybody to
security and happiness. That right is not being honored, and that is a shame on
all of us.

Disclaimer:
I make no claims of intelligence for myself, and I would hope that anyone who
examined my life would be gentle in describing the meager successes that I have
achieved with any talents that I may have been given. Furthermore, it’s not up
to me to assign value to people, to categorize them. I’m not judging anybody.
Now let’s get on with it.

We’re not
allowed to call people “stupid” anymore. That’s probably a good thing. In any
case, it’s not politically correct these days to call someone stupid, or
retarded. It’s true, when you think of it, that “stupid” and “retarded” are not
quite descriptive. Consider the old saying, “he’s so smart that he’s stupid.”

There
are nuances to these things.

Now we are
encouraged to refer to those formerly stupid people “low functioning.” Myself, I
believe that the sobriquet “low functioning” encompasses more than a mere
recitation of the person’s IQ. I think that the factors for low functioning
status are: 1) IQ; 2) temperament; and 3) emotional health. Any combination of
shortcomings in these three areas may cause some of us to be overmatched by the
complexities of modern life. Our functioning is impaired. Hence, “low
functioning.”

It’s worth
mentioning that most families include an uncle, or a cousin, who is smart
enough, and a very nice fellow, but who never seems to get his wheels on the
ground. They live with their parents and struggle to make a living. They are
the hidden face of the low functioning.

The point
is that the low functioning will always be with us (to paraphrase). They need
our consideration more than ever in our modern world, and as I say, they
deserve it. Things aren’t getting any easier for working people. Up until quite
recently, someone with a limited education and no extra-ordinary skills could easily
find a job that could turn into a long term meal ticket. They could get
married, raise families, and send their children to university. By now, those
jobs have fled overseas, and our society’s education priorities have shifted to
profit-centered. All that is left is Walmart, or McDonalds, and those places do
not enable anyone to have a decent life.

I say, “they
deserve our consideration.” What do I mean?

They
deserve an education tailored to their needs; they deserve access to all the
education that they can stand, practically free; they deserve social services
to assist with any difficulties that they may be experiencing; they deserve
decent jobs that pay a living wage; and they deserve government policies that
recognize and value their existence. It is not enough to tell them, like
Willard Romney told the world in 2012, “just borrow money from your parents and
start a business!” (Truth to tell, Romney is the real retard in this story so
far.)

In other
words, the low functioning deserve their fair share of the prosperity that is a
feature of American life.

That,
however, is not happening. Instead, those low functioning Americans are being left
behind, they are being blamed for their own status as also-rans, and, worst of
all, they are being exploited by cynical power interests. (Think political
interests; business interests.) This needs to stop.

(Let’s
pause for a moment to consider the breath taking naivety of that simple
statement, “this needs to stop.”)

These
powerful interests are abusing the low functioning with things like:

1.Institutional unemployment;

2.Exorbitant pricing policies for
education, etc.;

3.Vote harvesting;

4.Fear mongering; and

5.Religion.

Dare we say
it out loud? Low functioning, low education and low skilled (mostly) white
people are leading the charge of American politics off into the realm of
fantasy. It’s not their idea, either. It’s that exploitation thing I just mentioned.

(Unless, of
course, the cart has taken over the lead from the horse, and now it is the low
functioning who are driving before them their former Galtian Overlords. That’s
a pleasant thought, but it is unlikely.)

They are
electing people who laugh at them and work against their best interests; they
are enabling religion to pervade politics; and they are empowering corporate
interests in their ongoing crusade to destroy the Federal government. These are
terrible things in which there is no benefit for the low functioning.

The low
functioning are not to blame for their anger and discontent. They have suffered
a very real diminution in their ability to make a living, and support a family,
and to lead a prosperous, American life. They had the American Dream there for
a short while, four decades or so. It’s well and truly gone by now. They do
have real grievances that deserve airing. I feel their pain, more, in fact,
than I care to admit. The terrible thing is that the exploitation that they are
responding to leads them to blame the wrong forces for their reduced condition.

It’s not
immigrants that have ruined the American Dream; not Democrats; not Liberals;
not coastal states; not urban culture; not academic elites. It’s certainly not
recent arrivals like terrorists and Muslims. I’ll sound like a broken record if
I spell out who it is that they should be blaming. You know who I mean.

So, who
speaks for the low functioning in American society? There was a long period in
Western Civilization when nobody did, nobody cared at all. Slight shifts began
to enter the picture around the arrival of the Enlightenment and the American
Experiment. More recently, labor unions and New Deal Democrats did a lot to
help raise the living standards of those who had previously been written off as
“the poor.” (And the “undeserving poor,” to boot.) There was even, for a time,
something like a covenant between labor and management, which arose during and
after World War II. That was an unspoken agreement in which labor promised to
diligently do the work of business, and management promised to take care of
labor with health care and more equitable wages.

Man, how
gone is that train by now! It’s out of sight! It gives me chills even to think
about it! How great was that! No one under forty-years-old can even imagine it!
Such a thing would only be considered stupid now, the real stupid, with no
reference to political correctness.

But who?
Who’s left? Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders? An army of two? Maybe the low
functioning are doomed. Where can they go for help? For solace? For Christ’s
sake, where can they go for health care? How can they live on the wages of a
greeter at Walmart?

The conditions
that I am describing here are a scandal and a deep shame for a country that
claims to be the land of the free. They should be, anyway. Look around, lots of
countries are doing much better for their workers than America is. Their
workers have much greater security; they make more money; they eat better; they get much more vacation time; they
don’t worry about health care; their children go to university free; then have,
indeed, more freedom. It’s true.

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About Me

Mr. C is: a reformed lawyer; a religious atheist; a useful "Handy Man;" an amateur social scientist; a beloved teacher; a well liked husband and father; Ambassador Emeritus from, and to, Planet X; a freelance professor; taxi driver to the stars (Joe DiMaggio and Ronald McDonald, both out of uniform); an excellent fire fighter; an enthusiastic but untalented musician; an experienced counselor; a top-notch disk jockey; an all around get-along-guy; a cunning linguist; a would-be lifestyle victim; a Masonic wannabe; a frequent reader; Professor Irwin Corey's Ph.D. adviser; an accomplished driver and motorcyclist; a famous rockologist; a reliable but indifferent bullshit detective; a poor speller; a proud United States Navy veteran (honorably discharged, barely); the Ayatollah of Ass-o-Hola; a drug legend; a Returned Peace Corps volunteer (Thailand); a generally charming man; nationally and internationally known from coast to coast; a legend in his own mind; a cultural-anthropological critic-at-large; an avenging angel who coolly bides his time; Soul Brother number 37; and a friend to the poor.